Complete Index

February, 2012

On Feb. 9, 1943, the United States declared victory against Japan in the seven-month World War II campaign for Guadalcanal and nearby islands in the southwest Pacific. The victory was a major turning point in the Pacific War.

On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles were greeted by thousands of screaming fans as they landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to begin their first American tour, highlighted by three performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

On Feb. 3, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson announced that the United States was breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany after it had reinstituted its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. The U.S. would declare war on Germany two months later.

On Jan. 27, 1973, delegates from the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam and the Vietcong’s Provisional Revolutionary Government signed the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam, which instituted a ceasefire in the Vietnam War and called for the withdrawal of American troops.

On Jan. 17, 1912, English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reached the South Pole, five weeks after Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s expedition became the first to reach the pole. Scott and his four men died on their journey back to their base.

On Jan. 17, 1893, a small group comprised primarily of American businessmen overthrew Hawaii's monarchy. The coup led to the end of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the annexation of Hawaii by the United States in the ensuing years.

On Jan. 5, 1968, Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He initiated the “Prague Spring,” a period of liberalization in the socialist state that prompted violent Soviet suppression.

On Jan. 4, 1965, in his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his “Great Society,” a series of domestic programs designed to advance civil rights and aid those in poverty.

On Dec. 22, 1989, Romania’s Communist President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena fled Bucharest as revolutionaries stormed government headquarters. They were arrested later that day, and executed on Christmas Day after a quick trial.

On Dec. 18, 1944, the Supreme Court ruled in Korematsu v. United States that the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans was constitutional, though it ruled in a separate decision that loyal citizens must be released. The decisions came soon after the government decided to end internment.